The odds have always been against UCLA’s star recruit Shabazz Muhammad staying with the program for more than a year. He’s one of the best two-way players in the nation and he has a sizable role waiting for him that should allow him to showcase his abilities enough to remain a top-ranked prospect in the 2013 NBA Draft. However, at the 2012 adidas Nations championship game he was saying all the right things regarding his future.

“I’m not expecting to be one-and-done,” Muhammad said in an exclusive interview with HOOPSWORLD. “I want to get this college season started and try to make our way to Atlanta.

“It is hard (to block out all the draft talk), but you have to look at it as you put yourself in this position so I’m just going to keep continuing to work hard and see what the outcome is.”

Unfortunately for UCLA and Muhammad, his decision could be made for him by the NCAA. They are currently investigating whether or not Muhammed and his family accepted impermissible benefits that endangered his amateur status. He is not eligible to play in the team’s upcoming trip to China as the NCAA continues to research his case. The investigation dates all the way back to February; CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish had the details:

In relatively short order we should know whether or not Muhammad is one of those pieces. It never looked like he was going to be at UCLA long anyway, but if he’s ineligible than you can certainly pencil him in as one of the top picks in the 2013 draft. If Enes Kanter, who never played at Kentucky due to being permanently ineligible for playing professionally in Turkey beforehand, still went top three in the 2011 NBA Draft, it’s highly unlikely that Muhammad takes much of a hit either.

Here is my favorite prospect thus far for the 2013 draft, he is the incoming freshmen for UNLV.

Anthony BennettUNLV6'7"242 lbs.7'1" wingspan

This is a really good class of incoming freshmen with a lot of talent but the one guy that is the most impressive to me is Anthony Bennett. This guy is just a beast when he dunks, and I really haven't seen someone dunk with such anger every time that Bennett does. Right now he is a combo player because of his size but in the NBA he will need to play the three and his handles are alright but need to get better. The same goes for his jumper it is alright right now but he needs to improve it over the year.

Burke has been busy this summer, participating in the LeBron James Skills Academy and drawing rave reviews as perhaps the best point guard there. And what may have helped him even more was that he was measured with a 6'5'' wingspan - which is solid for a point guard.

Burke's game is very mature for his age. As I touched on already, he has a very high IQ and learns quickly. He reads defenses well and has been very competitive dating back to the days where a pre-teen Jared Sullinger and him battled all day long in various competitions. The coaching by the elder Sullinger also helps explain why Burke already plays like a battle-tested senior.

All the intangibles with Burke are there. He plays tough and with a great motor. He enjoys trying to get rebounds and managed to get over 4 rebounds per 40 minutes when adjusted for Michigan's slowed down tempo.

Michigan's tempo is something you need to keep in the back of your mind when looking at Burke and the rest of the Wolverines. They don't get as many possessions per game which brings their numbers down to earth. But if you look at Burke's 40 minute pace adjusted stats, he averaged 17.7 points and 5.5 assists.

Those 7 names are the only guys who scored and assisted more than Burke during their freshman year at a Big 6 school (since 2001). Burke did this playing next to Tim Hardaway who can be hard to play next to as a point guard.

Awesome video. The game against OSU is so impressive to me because he going against arguably the best on ball defender in all of college in Aaron Craft.